How do you manage it all?

Question

How do you manage to take care of a baby and manage a household? I am failing hard. My daughter is relatively needy. She eats every 1.5 hours and needs to nap several times a day, which right now she only does in the car or on me. I am struggling to cook, clean, and run errands while caring for her. My house is a disaster and I can feel my SO’s stress and frustration. 😩

Answer

Remember to ask for help if you need it. It takes a village to raise a child. Don't feel like everything needs to fall on you

Answer

You muddle through the first 6 (or 12 or 216) months and enlist as much help as you possibly can. And if your SO wants dinner that means it’s his turn to take care of the baby while you cook. If you can spend a few minutes at the beginning and/or end of the day prepping for the day ahead, every little bit helps. Like pulling meat out of the freezer for dinner or making sure the living room carpet is clean and clear for tummy time. Or getting a simple snack together for that 3am feed because you know you crash if you don’t have it (bonus points for making a couple extra since you took the time to make the first one anyway). Also, doing a lot of micro tasks works better at this stage than trying to find those elusive three hour time chunks. You might not be able to clean the whole kitchen, but you can wash that one pot you just used BEFORE it turns into a crazy scrubbing project. Just got back from Grandma’s? Put more diapers in the diaper bag so it’s ready to go for tomorrow. That 10 minutes in the morning that your child is happy (or at least not screaming their head off)? Throw that meat you so thoughtfully pulled out of the freezer last night into the crockpot. Baby sleeping on you? Get on Pinterest and start making a list of super quick meals. Walking into the next room? Take an item that belongs in there with you.

Answer

You may try baby wearing while cleaning. You may just have to let the baby cry while you’re cooking. I would put my son in a swing while I was cooking dinner or cleaning. He liked the swinging motion. Your baby might like that or a glider/soother.

Answer

How do you handle a 9 year old, a new born, a dog, a husband who is 100% o. Call and a full time job? You just do:) the truth is your not failing if your kids alive and your house is messy. I figured that out quick. The only judgment is from you on yourself, so stop your amazing.

Answer

It’s really hard when they won’t nap alone. Really hard. You aren’t failing, you’re just more needed by her right now. It won’t always be like this.

Answer

Ya don’t. Some days will be better then others. I’m only just now getting into a routine and keeping the house clean and feeling like I can do “it all” and my second is 15 months. Buuut I’m pregnant again. So it’ll all come crashing down again come December. 😂 
But I do try n pick up toys at night, have a clean kitchen 75% of the time when we go to bed, do at least one small cleaning task a day to try n stay on top of the big things like laundry clean bathrooms and vacuuming.

Answer

Same here. You are definitely not alone. My daughter had a schedule for about a week and then that hit the fan. Now she is hungry fairly often. And today she stayed up for a long time and fussed. We threw everything in the book and she just wasn't happy. We finally got her to sleep. And nothing was wrong. Baby life I guess. I have laundry in the laundry room from 3 days ago. I got time to clean once and try to just not mess it up. Lol it is relatively difficult also after having a csection and cant sit up by myself totally yet. So, I definitely feel you on this one.

Answer

Check out clean mama on Instagram. Her routine makes it SO easy to keep up with!

Answer

Baby wrap! 
It’s the only way I was able to get anything done around the house when my daughter was first born.

Answer

Don't feel too bad,my house was a disaster for at least the first three to four months,I just tried to prioritize what absolutely needed to be done that day with what little time I had.
Giving baby wearing is a good option but personally my baby didn't like that. He always wanted to sleep on me so I would try to put him down and sneak away to do the dishes but then he would just wake up.
It's a challenging time,be easy on yourself.

How do you manage it all?

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